1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to computer network environments. More specifically, the present invention relates to accessing electronic documents.
2. Description of Related Art
Information on the World Wide Web is typically made available by structuring the information into a visual presentation. Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is used by the web author to define the visual structure. The end user is presented with this information by viewing the information on a computer display, after the information has been rendered into a visual format by a web browser (e.g. Netscape Navigator or Microsoft Internet Explorer).
However, the images displayed by conventional web browsers may not be clear enough for users with visual impairments. Though web users with visual impairments can set a web browser to default to a larger font for readability, it is often desirable for this impaired user to see a larger, more detailed version of an image. Currently, there is no way for the user to know if there is a higher resolution image available on the same web page. With today's web pages, the user must access an alternate version of the image via a link to an alternate web page, or an alternate image file. Current web browsers may allow the user to magnify portions of a web page (including images), but this magnification does not adjust picture resolution, resulting in a grainy image.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method for directly accessing alternate sizes of an image, with corresponding adjustments in resolution to maintain sharp picture quality.